Onomastics or onomatology is the study of all types of proper names and the origins of those proper names. Anthroponomastics is the study of human names.
Onomastics is an extremely complicated field due to numerous naming conventions and variations on naming conventions in use around the globe. In general, the process of matching an individual's name or surname to a possible nationality, region of origin, ethnic origin, culture, clan, sub-clan, age or gender requires an intricate knowledge of the various naming conventions used around the world. While some naming conventions are used throughout a broad area, the use of names or surnames themselves may be restricted to a smaller area.
Using current methods to determine nationality, ethnicity, culture, region of origin, clan, sub-clan, age and/or gender for names is not an efficient process. The process of matching an individual's full name or surname to a possible nationality, region of origin, ethnic origin, culture, clan, sub-clan, age and/or gender is time consuming, complicated, and involves extensive research and effort. Because of these complications, such matching can lead to a high error rate in the hands of the unskilled. A large quantity of time can be consumed manually referencing linguists, name lists, gender lists, and ethnic origin lists.
The inefficiency of current methods of determining nationality, ethnicity, culture, region of origin, clan, sub-clan, age and/or gender for names has become increasing important in recent years. A substantial increase in the existence and availability of large databases containing names has brought about a need for fast, efficient and accurate methods for analyzing names within those databases. In particular, the advent of the “War on Terror” has created a need for analyzing databases and other sources of information to create subjective or objective sublists of individuals requiring further investigation. These subjective or objective sublists are sometimes referred to as “profiling data”. In the “War on Terror”, any information may be an asset to investigators, including information regarding a terrorist's name, which could help lead to the terrorist's capture. Profiling data in general has become highly sought after by governments, businesses and others.
Several automated software processes have been developed in an attempt to identify characteristics of names found in documents and databases. Anyone who has remarked upon a familiar family name has most likely indirectly grasped some of the basic principles used in existing name analysis software. For example, upon encountering someone named “Fischer”, an individual might suspect that the person with that name is of Germanic descent. The association of “Fischer” with Germanic descent is generally triggered by an experience with Germanic sounding names or by noticing the distinctive “sch” letter combination often used in the German language.
The same basic techniques used by individuals to associate the “sch” letter combination with the German language can be applied in a systematic way to large numbers of names with software applications. The software automation of name analysis has resulted in an abundance of cultural and demographic information available to a number of fields and industries, such as marketing, law enforcement, and/or finance.
Existing naming technologies may use a top-down approach to gather cultural and demographic information from names. The top-down approach uses a dictionary file and makes comparisons based on that list. This is the standard technique used by most companies currently operating in the industry.
There are several goals of any software program designed to extract cultural data. These goals include processing information accurately, delivering results quickly, and handling large amounts of information reliably and accurately. Unfortunately, current systems are not adequate at performing these functions. Existing systems are either too slow or have problems utilizing the large amounts of data generated effectively.
Generally, needs exist for improved systems and methods for automated analysis of names. More specifically, needs exist for a software program that can quickly, easily and accurately analyze large amounts of information regarding surnames and/or given names to locate the name's nationality, ethnicity, culture, region of origin, clan, sub-clan, age and/or gender.